Originally posted by steveken Ok, we REALLY needed that. It was completely useful. Next time you want to put up a post such as this, please do us all a favor and after you type it, just hit cancel. We don't really need a flame war or a smart ass point of view.

Thanks.

The point of the post was completely useful: the solution to this problem lies with VOIP providers.

To answer tbeckner's question, yes. Vonage has a firmware update for the Moto boxes and had adjusted some users packet timing which has allowed some users DTiVo's to dial in over VOIP.

Scroll back 10 months in this thread (when the post of mine that Reed just commented on, adding his own smart ass view) and you'd see that this thread was working NOWHERE towards a solution because quite a few people had made up their minds that this whole issue is DTV's fault because the modem slow-down codes don't work on DTiVo's. That's not the problem. The problem is that VOIP can't handle a high-speed modem connection. Again, I stand by my point that the real solution lies with VOIP providers.

If weeding thru the sarcasm to find the point of my messages is too much bother for you, feel free to click on the User CP link at the top of your screen at add my name to your Ignore list.

Originally posted by tbeckner But I bet you don't understand, just like DirecTV management doesn't understand that people are getting rid of the old technology like landlines and what DirecTV should do is allow the use of the broadband instead of the obsolete technology of a modem.

FWIW, I agree. I ditched my landland over a year ago and have had to spend hours hacking my DTiVo's to enable broadband. I shouldn't have to do that.

So do what you need to do to convince DTV management to change their antiquated philosophy -- I'm NOT defending their position -- but don't buy a product that they sell as "REQUIRES A LAND-BASED PHONE CONNECTION" and start giving them hell because it doesn't work over VOIP. They told you that up front. That's all I'm saying. (And when I say "YOU", I don't specifically mean you, tebeckner. I mean "in general").

Originally posted by aristoBrat ... "REQUIRES A LAND-BASED PHONE CONNECTION" and start giving them hell because it doesn't work over VOIP. They told you that up front. That's all I'm saying. (And when I say "YOU", I don't specifically mean you, tebeckner. I mean "in general").

Actually... Unless they change the wording to specificaly state: POTS, or explicity state VoIP is not allowed....

Most broadband solutions are Land Based... Thus technically, a VoIP connections is Land-Based

Originally posted by steveken Just out of curiosity, how did you go about "hacking" the DTiVo to work over broadband? From everything I have read, its not really worth the effort just to take the chance of messing up the box.

I wouldn't say that.... Sure it is not "easy" but is not all that difficult either.

Provided that you work on a backup copy of your hard drive, the risk is minimal, provided you know how to open a computer case.

The phone piece is just one of the advantages of putting 4.0 on your DTivo, as all the guide data comes down the sat. When you do this, you actualy have to block outbound "calls" of the network card, so it doesn't get terminiated by Tivo.

I have been using Vonage for the past 2 months and love it. The only issue that I've had is that I cannot get my DirecTiVo to work at all. I have a RCA DVR40 and am connected to the phone via RCA wireless jack. I've tried to hard wire to the DTiVo but to no avail. Only once have I been able to make a call to the mother ship. Would love to use the USB ports on the back to make calls but I understand that it's way off in the future or another machine for me. I will tell you this, having a phone bill of $27.15 every month and using all the features that Vonage offers is one heck of a deal. My bandwidth on Comcast has not suffered at all. I run 3.2MB normal and 2.9MB when I'm on the phone. If there's any advice other than what I've read, I'd love to have it. One of the finest things that I've done is to tell SBC goodbye.

I recently switched to VoIP through USADatanet and got my tivos to dial out. I have a Telco 211 device from datanet and a DSR6000 and a HDVR2 tivo units. I had to use the external modem for each device to dial out. I will post my configureation below which worked for both models.

After tons of research on trying to get my Directv Tivo to dial out on a Vonage line I tried this and it worked! Maybe you guys can try it and have the same success as I did. Takes a couple of tries but it does update.

In the area code, section on the phone setup change area code to 877 and dialing prefix to ,#034. Make a test call (mine took two tries) and then try the manual update (mine took two tries as well). Make sure in the Vonage setup you have your call quality set to 90k, otherwise I don't think it would work.

Searching for over a week for a solution, and saw the advice above about setting the area code to 877, then choosing to dial the 1-877 number it provides, and it made a succesful test call, and made a successful daily call.

Wanted to point this out so people would give it a try. Im happy to have Vonage and the HDTivo working without any hardware modifications or external modems.

Originally posted by steveken Ok, I have a NEW problem. I can get it to dial up and do the connecting phase. When it gets to "Negotiating", it fails. What does it mean when it fails while negotiating???

If it weren't for that, I would have it working. Please, if anyone has any experience with this, let me know.

Thanks.

Try forcing the modem to use a slower speed -- use ,#034 in the dialing prefix. If that fails, try ,#028 then ,#019, and finally ,#014.

My Philips stopped working over the Moto ATA in Nov. I finally called Vonage and they said to try a NY area code. 718 worked on the 2nd test and the 1st forced call in. In the past I was 50% at best until Nov when it stopped working all together. Nothing in the prefix. Just a 1 before the 718 number.

I spent three hours on the phone today with Vonage and DIRECTV. I have two DIRECTVs with TiVo. One connects over the phone but the other one will not. I have tried every code in the book to no avail. Also, Vonage is virtually impossible to use for faxing. I am canceling my Vonage and going back to Verizon.

Packet8 does Not work with modems or faxes. As soon as it hears a modem connect signal, it disconnects.

I've talked to tech support, and they say the hope to have this service available "soon"......

BTW, I've found Vonage voice service to be far superior to Packet8 (which has way too many lost voice mails, and unexplained failure of phone to ring when called).

voodoovid

According to the changelog from the latest packet8 firmware, packet8 has added "unrealiable" support for faxes and modems. My packet8 box is on the way, so I'll give it a test w/ my DirecTivo when it arrives.

My packet8 adapter arrived yesterday. I tried setting my DTivo up the same way I had it set up for the Vonage box, and no such luck. I called into their tech support and asked about the "unreliable" support. The rep that I talked to said that he suggests that people use 9600 baud for fax transmissions, when I mentioned that I was trying to get a Tivo to work, he flat out said "that won't work." I might try to give them a call today and see if I can pick their brains to see how long it will be until it is supported. If it is not soon, then I'll be returning the packet8 box, and waiting until Vonage has a POP in my rate center so that I can port my number over.

you are not using vonage for any of this anymore are you? if not, it doesn't look like you are helping anything much anymore. I am not trying to be rude or anything, but this is completely the wrong topic for you to be posting in now that you have switched to packet8. we really need to start differentiating topics between the different types of service. everyone here is well aware that all services are not the same. hell, even vonage isn't the same for everyone.

but anyway, like I said, maybe you should start up a packet8 topic and let the people on this one talk about vonage and their dealings with it. it might help alleviate any confusion newer people have when looking here.

oh, and just so you know, yes I do realize that there have been other non-vonage people posting on this particular topic. this one just happens to be ">>> Using DirecTivo over Vonage (VoIP) - a solution <<<" in particular. I am just thinking that right now would be a good time for at&t callvantage, packet8, lingo, and all the other services to start their own dedicated topics so we can start focusing on each service individually to help people better.

This is my recent experience with DirecTV with Tivo (series 2) connected with Vonage:

I decided to give Vonage a call early one morning a couple days ago to "pick the brain" of a tech support guy.

I asked him all sorts of questions about what he recommends for getting a Directivo to connect using Vonage. I acted like I barley knew anything so he would tell me anything he knows, then I slowly started mentioning things I've heard on these forums and other forums.

His first bit of advice was to use the code: ,#034

He then said I could try: ,#104

I understand that the first code supposedly slows down the Tivo modem a little, but I have no clue what that second code is supposed to do. If anybody knows I'd love to hear.

After giving me those codes he said I could also try using a DSL filter. He explained that it might help clean up the line and allow Tivo to connect better. He did stress that I "keep my receipt" because there is no guarantee it would work.

His advice stopped there and he wanted to end the call, but I brought up something else. I told him I read about "packet size" and how it could contribute to Tivo success. He said I could lower the packet size and informed me that it might help. The default is ".2" he said. He said you can have it at .1, .2., or .3 -- he recommended .1. So I told him to change it.

I also asked his to verify my firmware, he said it was up to date.

The next item I brought up is the fax line. I asked, could having a fax line help in this situation? He informed me that it really wouldn't, and you could use the prefix *99 which is the same thing as having a fax line. I was a little surprised and confirmed that a fax line is basically a permanent line with the prefix *99 "built in". He then said that all *99 does is disable call waiting, and make some other very minor tweaks on the line to make it work better with fax. He said even with that, most of the time users need to slow down their fax machines because the newer, faster fax machines will not work reliably with Vonage. He said its just one of the faults of the technology right now.

This was pretty much all I wanted to know for now, so I thanked him and hung up.

I should mention that I have Vonage running through the internal wiring of my house, something he did not recommend when updating/connecting the Tivo (he said it could cause a lot of interference with the connection). I should also mention I currently have Vonage connected directly to my cable modem, with a router connected to the output of Vonage. I've only had it this way for a week to test this stuff out. I plan to change it back so that Vonage is connected to an output of the router soon (and will run more tests at that point).

I started my DirecTV/Tivo testing. I plugged the Tivo into a phone jack nearby. Started by trying to update the phone number. No success. Tried a few more times, nothing (negotiating failure). I opted to just do a test call with the current number already saved in there. Did not work. I started using prefixes. Started with *99 only. Didn't work. Moved to ,#034 - nothing. Tried them both together, nothing. Then I tried ,#104 with *99 -- SUCCESS. The test call went through. I changed the phone number since it had updated the numbers. New number worked as well. I grabbed the latest download. I then removed the prefix and tried the new number - worked again. Tried an experiment to go back to the old number. It had to dial in again to get a new list, and it didnt work. I noticed I was also having trouble with my internet connection at this time, so I did a full reboot of Vonage and the cable modem. After that, I have had success every time with downloading new numbers, test calls, and daily calls, even with no prefixes.

Final Opinion: I have no idea and I don't expect this success to continue. For some reason the ,#104 code did something early on, but it turned out I really didn't need it after a fresh reboot. Now, keep in mind these calls that have succeeded have been VERY brief calls with no major downloads. I am not sure how it will behave with a major download. It couldbe that changing the packet size helped in my case.

Now if I can only get Vonage to work properly with Brinks security I'll be in good shape!

UPDATE: I moved Vonage to an output of my d-link router and have completed a daily call and test call. When a bigger download is available it will be the true test.

UPDATE/EDIT: I got the home security system working when I plugged Vonage into the last port of my router. I rebooted, and Brink dialed out and made an update.

This setup has been working flawlessly for me since I posted it.... until mid December when suddenly BOTH of my DTiVos started failing their daily calls. I checked everything, and finally gave in and called Vonage (fully expecting the support rep to say "We don't support DirecTV receivers over Vonage) but the guy was actually really helpful.

Not only did he adjust my packet size slightly, he also discovered that somehow my Bandwidth saver setting had been changed to MEDIUM (which I would never do). He admitted that it looked like the system had changed it on its own (mentioned something about a maintenance script that could have done it). He set it back to High and now my receivers are back in business.

So.... if yours start failing be sure to check the bandwidth saver setting.

I have a DSR6000R Series 1 unit and recently switched to Vonage. I am using the internal modem in the unit. My router is the Linksys Broadband Router w/2 phone ports.

I have tried all of the dialing prefix suggestions and when testing the new settings, it always fails. (Failed. Couldn't connect) I wonder how so many people with the DSR6000's are able to configure theirs to work.

Has anyone seen any other suggestions other than using anexternal modem?

Another possibility...I have a problem w/the router that Vonage knows about. There is noise on the line even at the highest bandwidth. They have ordered new routers to replace these and they should be in in a few weeks :-( Could this be the problem???

Noise could be the problem.
Also - switch the dialin number to a number in the 718 areacode (NYC outside Manhattan) number... Those have had an almost 100% success rate for me.
Some numbers - on the other hand - have an almost 0% success rate...

Originally posted by Provb3110 I have a DSR6000R Series 1 unit and recently switched to Vonage. I am using the internal modem in the unit. My router is the Linksys Broadband Router w/2 phone ports.

I have tried all of the dialing prefix suggestions and when testing the new settings, it always fails. (Failed. Couldn't connect) I wonder how so many people with the DSR6000's are able to configure theirs to work.

Has anyone seen any other suggestions other than using an external modem?

Another possibility...I have a problem w/the router that Vonage knows about. There is noise on the line even at the highest bandwidth. They have ordered new routers to replace these and they should be in in a few weeks :-( Could this be the problem???

Originally posted by tivobernd Noise could be the problem.
Also - switch the dialin number to a number in the 718 areacode (NYC outside Manhattan) number... Those have had an almost 100% success rate for me.
Some numbers - on the other hand - have an almost 0% success rate...

Originally posted by tivobernd Noise could be the problem.
Also - switch the dialin number to a number in the 718 areacode (NYC outside Manhattan) number... Those have had an almost 100% success rate for me.
Some numbers - on the other hand - have an almost 0% success rate...

But when I try to get the dialin number, it fails. I put in the new area code and and it can't connect to get the number.

Fortunatley, my land line has not been completely cut off yet. I can make outgoing calls, so I got the NY codes. Still not sure how to get the modem to work with Vonage.